Chicago - "Look Away"

[countrychick]

You know that one certain song that takes you back to a certain time, place, moment. This is the song for me. I like it though!

[Hervard]

Yeah, I always associate this song with the first semester of my junior year in high school.  I loved this song at first, then got tired of it because of gross overplay.  But now, no stations tend to play it anymore.

This was one of those songs that was penalized year-end-chartwise, since it came out so late in the year and didn't gain enough points in either 1988 or 1989 to make R&R's Year End chart (though they didn't go all the way down to 100 back then like they do now.  If they did, the song would have just barely made both charts).

It was, however, number one on Billboard's Top 100 of 1989, since they count all the points of a song on that one.  It has been said that Shadoe Stevens didn't like the fact that this came out on top for 1989, since most of its chartlife was in 1988, or something like that.

[Libra]

ulij20 said:

It was, however, number one on Billboard's Top 100 of 1989, since they count all the points of a song on that one.  It has been said that Shadoe Stevens didn't like the fact that this came out on top for 1989, since most of its chartlife was in 1988, or something like that.

I don't either, because I don't like that year-end chart policy.

[mst3k]

ulij20 said:

This was one of those songs that was penalized year-end-chartwise, since it came out so late in the year and didn't gain enough points in either 1989 or 1990 to make R&R's Year End chart (though they didn't go all the way down to 100 back then like they do now.  If they did, the song would have just barely made both charts).

1990, huh? I didn't hear the song that much by that time... ;)

[Libra]

mst3k1 said:

1990, huh? I didn't hear the song that much by that time...  ;)

Oh, how did I not catch that?

[MinusName]

I really like this song, one of Chicago's best.

[jimmy74747]

I loved the Chicago power-ballad era. This was one of the better songs by them at this time.

[Hervard]

mikek102 said:

ulij20 said:

It was, however, number one on Billboard's Top 100 of 1989, since they count all the points of a song on that one.  It has been said that Shadoe Stevens didn't like the fact that this came out on top for 1989, since most of its chartlife was in 1988, or something like that.

I don't either, because I don't like that year-end chart policy.

Actually, I think it's pretty fair, since a song gets its entire chart life accounted for. The one that I didn't like is the one that ran from November 1 of the previous year through November 1 of the current year. For instance, on the Top 100 of 1982, so many songs appeared on that chart that were pretty much gone by the beginning of 1982. I do understand that they have to meet deadlines, so doing a chart that runs from January 1 through December 31 would be impossible, but setting the cutoff date for November 1? That's a little overkill.

[countrychick]

I agree, I don't hear this song anymore on any stations these days. Even the band it self. Thats ashame cause this is a good all around universal type group to be played for almost any station.

[reception]

On the US Music Survey this week Mark Wallengren mentioned it was the biggest hit of 1988 (the AC chart).

[Hervard]

reception said:

On the US Music Survey this week Mark Wallengren mentioned it was the biggest hit of 1988 (the AC chart).

That's not true. The number one AC song of 1988 was "I'll Always Love You" by Taylor Dayne. Are you sure Mark didn't say it was number one this week in 1988?

[reception]

ulij20 said:

reception said:

On the US Music Survey this week Mark Wallengren mentioned it was the biggest hit of 1988 (the AC chart).

That's not true.  The number one AC song of 1988 was "I'll Always Love You" by Taylor Dayne.  Are you sure Mark didn't say it was number one this week in 1988?

I found that strange myself. Chicago was the featured artist spotlight this week.

[stevie nice]

I could never have an ex call me up, say she found someone new, and tell her, "I'm happy for you baby." that would just never, never, never, ever, ever happen.

[Chato]

I can't believe that a song like this could top the chart as late as 1988 . To me Chicago seems like a band that would have faded away in the mid-80s.
I like this , though .

[BillboardBoy]

Not bad.

[WotUNeed]

Great song, one of my favorites from Chicago

[shocker]

gliben said:

I can't believe that a song like this could top the chart as late as 1988 . To me Chicago seems like a band that would have faded away in the mid-80s.
I like this , though .

Chicago was a very popular band in the '70s, and well into the late '80s. They really fizzled out by the early '90s when so-called pop music was going through some enormous changes.

By that time, they were pretty much confined to the AC chart. They even had a #1 AC hit in 1997 called "Here in My Heart", which had little impact at CHR.

[unicorns]

One of my favorites from them.

[Glove Slap]

This is a major guilty pleasure for me.

[esoteric76]

This is one of Diane Warren's finest ballads. Chicago does it amazing justice.

[areyoureadytojump]

One of my most hated songs of the 80s...

[🇯🇲 dollybaby 🇯🇲]

Great song, but I much prefer their other hits over this. Doesn't quite hit the same as their earlier ones. 

[leonagwen]

Year end #1 hit

[jenglisbe]

On its own merits, not really a great song, but as 80s nostalgia I love it.

[areyoureadytojump]

I've never liked it. It never hit my personal chart back in 1988/1989.

[Deleted]

I'm a complete sucker for Diane Warren cheese like this, though it could've been better with another band (Aerosmith comes to mind). Also, this is a perfect opportunity to use one of my favorite gifs: 

[🇯🇲 dollybaby 🇯🇲]